Beware Sunglasses' Bogus Claims

Apparently, nobody can leave the house this summer. Not only will your sunscreen give you skin cancer, but your lying sunglasses will ruin your vision. A new study shows that more than 20% of sunglasses (regardless of price) make false claims about UV protection, reports LiveScience. (The study concerned shades made in Europe, but smaller-scale studies in the US suggest the same generally holds true here.)

What to do? For one thing, an eye doctor has the equipment to test the sunglasses. "I myself was surprised to find my $15 sunglasses, a big buy for me, offered less than 50% protection," writes Christopher Wanjeck. "Half protection is worse than no protection, however. The darkness of my lenses was causing my eyes to dilate and allow even more UV light to penetrate to the back of my eyeballs." The full LiveScience article has tips on what to look for when buying. (More sunglasses stories.)